Chamber proposes council within council

A city council within the Lafayette City-Parish Council. That's what the Greater Lafayette Chamber of Commerce is proposing. It's not a new idea, but it's one that is long overdue.

Such a structure within the city-parish council would be a major first step toward solving some of the problems that arise under this parish's version of consolidated government.

The Chamber last week made a proposal to the Lafayette City-Parish Council that a Charter Commission be convened to come up with recommendations on changes to the structure of the council. If the council approves the recommendations, the result will be an item to be placed on the ballot in a 2014 election.

The proposal, called the Fair and Focused Plan, is based on the so-called Hefner Plan, developed in 2011 by demographer Mike Hefner. The plan, which was not adopted by the Charter Commission at the time, would afford self-governance to the city of Lafayette in matters that primarily affect the city, as is the case in other parish municipalities. All five municipalities in Lafayette parish have voiced through their district representatives on the city parish council. Plus all five have their own city councils and four have their own mayor.

But Lafayette does not.

Under the present system, representatives from the other five municipalities can and do make decisions for the city of Lafayette - a condition that is not reciprocal.

City-Parish President Joey Durel calls it "representation without taxation," meaning that council members who do not live in Lafayette make decisions for city residents.

Some have expressed the concern that creating such a city council would lead to deconsolidation, which was rejected last year by voters.

But this is not deconsolidation.

It is only fair - and even logical - that the principal city in the parish would have same right to make its own decisions about passing or continuing taxes within the city and decisions on how the proceeds are spent, for example, as do other cities and towns in the parish.

The plan would call for redistricting the parish into five districts in the city and four for the rest of the parish, Chamber Vice President Bruce Conque told The Daily Advertiser on Thursday. According to the Chamber's proposed timeline, all should ideally be in place for an election to choose city council members by 2015.

The five city council members would meet and vote on issues that pertain only to city residents. The full nine-member council would meet to deal with matters that concern the entire parish.

This would be the only change, Conque said.

"The tax base would remain the same, good and bad," Conque said. The role of the city-parish president would remain the same and services provided by Lafayette Consolidated Government to unincorporated areas would remain the same.

One thing that would change is that the City of Lafayette would regain total control of the city-owned Lafayette Utilities System and LUS Fiber.

That makes sense. The owners of a company should not have others making decisions for them. Right now, council members not living in the city have the power to make decisions about raising LUS rates, even though most of their constituencies are outside the city limits.

It would also give the full city-parish council more time to focus on parish issues, especially those that affect unincorporated areas.

In all, the proposal seems like a sound one that will create a more equitable balance of power in city-parish government.

This would be a bold first step toward a better and more equitable consolidated government.

We hope council members will give it the consideration it deserves.

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Chamber proposes council within council

A city council within the Lafayette City-Parish Council. That's what the Greater Lafayette Chamber of Commerce is proposing. It's not a new idea, but it's one that is long overdue.